Nauvoo, engraving by Hermann Myers, Illinois State Museum Collection
When the pitiful exiles reached the state of Illinois, the people in Hancock County and in Quincy and Lima in Adams County Illinois received them kindly. The Mormons, ever resourceful and industrious, set to work, and soon settlements began springing up in Hancock and other Counties. (Refer to Map 5)
Following five months of confinement in Liberty jail, (November to April), the Prophet Joseph Smith escaped and made his way to Illinois. To provide more room for their people to settle, the Church leaders purchased extensive land in April 1839. This land included a small swampy place called Commerce. It was so wet that a man had difficulty walking across most of it, and teams became mired to their hips. No one else wanted it, so the cost was very minimal.33 It was an unhealthy place and many became victims to malaria, even the Prophet Joseph Smith being stricken.
This is the time when Joseph arose from his sickbed, and he and other Priesthood leaders went through the camps on both sides of the river, and miraculously healed all the sick. (One of these later was to become Zemira’s mother-in-law, Lydia Goldthwaite Knight, Sally’s mother. She was healed by having a handkerchief belonging to the Prophet Joseph wound around her brow.34)
Under the inspired leadership of the Prophet, the swamps were drained, and on that land, formerly known as Commerce, the city of Nauvoo was built. Yet they had very little money, and penniless converts by the hundreds kept gathering with the Saints at Nauvoo. There, in spite of their poverty, on April 3, 1841 they began construction of another temple, and eventually Nauvoo became one of the most beautiful cities in Illinois, with prosperous farms on the outskirts of the city.
33- Church of Jesus Christ of LDS, Truth Restored, pp. 60-61 – Mississippi River swamp land purchased.
34- History of Sally Knight - Sally’s mother healed with Prophet’s handkerchief.
No comments:
Post a Comment